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menace ukraine, its neighbors, andournatopartners.china is building whole islands in the south china sea and militarizing them yet this administration suggests cutting an already inadequate budget. many of our gains in afghanistan have been reversed. the taliban and now isis await our departure. iraq is barely better. iran's global terrorist network just received a massive transfusion of money and continues to challenge our interests in our allies in iraq, syria, yemen, and across the middle east. syria is a living hell on earth and devolving further by the day with russian and iranian sponsorship. we seem to be deconflicting with both countries, hardly our allies. isis has a major franchise in libya. base of operations in north africa, 160 miles of mediterranean coast line. terrorism is like a cancer across the world and this budget does not do enough to hold its spread. moreover, many of us on this committee are concerned that this budget mortgages future military capabilities that can pay for today's urgent requirements. mr. secretary, our commander in chief proclaimed in a

menace ukraine, its neighbors, and our nato partners. china is building whole islands in the south china sea and militarizing them yet this administration suggests cutting an already inadequate budget. many of our gains in afghanistan have been reversed. the taliban and now isis await our departure. iraq is barely better. iran's global terrorist network just received a massive transfusion of money and continues to challenge our interests in our allies in iraq, syria, yemen, and across the...

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are becoming more aggressive along their peripheries. russia on its western borders eabuttingnatoandchina ins had near seas. even as we continue to cooperate on issues of mutual interest to both countries, we concluded that department must be prepared for a period of increased competition over the next 25 years. now, the third strategic challenge is a more unpredictable and dangerous north korea. north korea as you know is already a nuclear armed regional power and it is now pursuing advanced ballistic missile capabilities that already threaten our allies and the broader stability of the asia-pacific region. indeed it is committed to developing long-range nuclear armed missiles such as the kn-08 which could pose a direct threat to the continental united states if it is successfully designed and fielded. that is a new thing. moreover another new thing the new leader kim jong-un has demonstrated a propensity for provevation which lends itself to miscalculation and this is very, very, in our view, destabilizing and risky and north korea, of course, continues to station large conven

are becoming more aggressive along their peripheries. russia on its western borders e abutting nato and china ins had near seas. even as we continue to cooperate on issues of mutual interest to both countries, we concluded that department must be prepared for a period of increased competition over the next 25 years. now, the third strategic challenge is a more unpredictable and dangerous north korea. north korea as you know is already a nuclear armed regional power and it is now pursuing...

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. it helps us develop inner operability withournatopartnersso that's important. the exercises general breedlove designs underline our commitment to article 5 of the nato alliance. as importantly if russia faces nato they face the full wait of the capability of 28 nations, the full economy of 28 nations and full political will of 28 nations, quite frankly if you put all that together that's an overwhelming challenge for the russians. our exercise is designed to make sure one part of that is clear that we can bring the full weight of the military capability of 28 nations to bear in the event of a contingency. >> thank you. non-nato ally support for ukraine would be appreciated i know by the ukrainians. they're still waiting. mr. crenshaw. >> thank you, mr. chairman and thank you all for your service to our men and women in uniform. secretary carter you pretty well laid out all the diverse threats that we face. i can't think of a time where we faced any more on near term, short term or long-term bases and we're facing them at a time of shrinking budgets. and this subcommittee i t

. it helps us develop inner operability with our nato partners so that's important. the exercises general breedlove designs underline our commitment to article 5 of the nato alliance. as importantly if russia faces nato they face the full wait of the capability of 28 nations, the full economy of 28 nations and full political will of 28 nations, quite frankly if you put all that together that's an overwhelming challenge for the russians. our exercise is designed to make sure one part of that is...

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contributions. they're acriticalnatoallybo ours so we'll work with them. >> thank you. out of time. >> thank you. mr. dana rohrabacher of california. >> thank you for your service, mr. ambassador, and tioned of when you mentioned in the beginning of your testimony that abu seeoff s left this world with our help, was that the same abu sayoff or another one? >> no, he was a legacy in iraq, acolyte. >> he was not the financier -- >> not to my knowledge. >> how many fighters do we ha have -- how many people are fighting assad? the number of fighters that are there and i guess aleppo and g that region?i >> i can't put a number on aleppo. you know, the upper most mod -- you know, our moderate -- the uppermost estimate is 70,000 fighters but antit in hundreds of different groups. to bring coherence to that is difficult. >> and are there any of those anti-assad fighterfightithis f fighting isil at this point? >> well, yes. and theairstri before the russi strike campaign, we felt pretty good about some -- the word i go it is coherence and capacity that we were gaining along that line w

contributions. they're a critical nato allyb o ours so we'll work with them. >> thank you. out of time. >> thank you. mr. dana rohrabacher of california. >> thank you for your service, mr. ambassador, and tioned of when you mentioned in the beginning of your testimony that abu seeoff s left this world with our help, was that the same abu sayoff or another one? >> no, he was a legacy in iraq, acolyte. >> he was not the financier -- >> not to my knowledge....

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which so many n problems come. how are we able to do it because we're makesofnatoandwe're h permanent seat at the u.n. and we're a part of the eu. i think it's technical jargon to call it a force multiplier but that's what it is and we should be proud of the role we play in the world. >>> "washington journal" live every day wish issues and politics that impact you. coming up tomorrow jill stein will join us live in the studio and conservative radio host h r erick erickson will join us and be sure to watch "washington journal" beginning live at 7:00 a.m. eastern tomorrow morning. join the discussion. >>> on saturday, south carolina holds its democratic presidential primary. and at 7:30 p.m. c-span will bring you results from south carolina along with speeches from the candidates and your reaction on the phone and on facebook and twitter. and two days later super tuesday, when 12 states hold presidential primaries or caucuses. it's also been called the s.e.c. primary, because many of the states holding contests that day participate in the u.s. collegiate southeastern conferenc

which so many n problems come. how are we able to do it because we're makes of nato and we're h permanent seat at the u.n. and we're a part of the eu. i think it's technical jargon to call it a force multiplier but that's what it is and we should be proud of the role we play in the world. >>> "washington journal" live every day wish issues and politics that impact you. coming up tomorrow jill stein will join us live in the studio and conservative radio host h r erick...

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history, when the united states is engaged, building allianceslikenato, buildingthe support through the aseeian countries, it's in our security interest, we're doing this motivate i.d. by our own security but we're going to be there consist tenially. if that's the new world order, i'm all for it. tell me what you mean by it. [ inaudible ] >> i don't know. [ inaudible ] >> well, what he said was the end of the fall of the soviet union which he managed magnificently created this new world order where the united states needed to stay engaged, needed to stay involved. and when we're involved we create more security. i'm for that. and that means were for example, that the next president needs to reestablish the ironclad relationship with israel. take it to the bank, no gap between us, shoulder to shoulder. that's -- why is that important for us? it's important because israel is our strongest ally, of course in the middle east. it's also important because the arab world, when they see disruption of the israel-u.s. relationship, they say we're not going to be able to get a deal. if israel

history, when the united states is engaged, building alliances like nato, building the support through the aseeian countries, it's in our security interest, we're doing this motivate i.d. by our own security but we're going to be there consist tenially. if that's the new world order, i'm all for it. tell me what you mean by it. [ inaudible ] >> i don't know. [ inaudible ] >> well, what he said was the end of the fall of the soviet union which he managed magnificently created this...

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thenatotrustfund and the initial direct funding challenge. and the surprising thing he was able to see in general dunford as well president ghani has said the taliban is not an existential threat. what is an existential threat is the loss of confidence by the contributing nations. and general williamson took our report, which was quite negative, identified many, many problems, but the fact that the united states has a system of an independent i.g. outside the chain of command reporting only to the secretary of defense and ;f congress that could therefore independently assess the problems. general williamson took that to nato and met with contributing nation partners. and it had an impact that they could then feel at least there is some independent look. and despite the fact that it was bad, it would mean some attempt at improvement. and that has continued. and mr. sopko is a very big part of that. but it is continued to the extent of translating our reports into the language of the afghans so that they would be outbriefed along with the command. and is not simply the command saying

the nato trust fund and the initial direct funding challenge. and the surprising thing he was able to see in general dunford as well president ghani has said the taliban is not an existential threat. what is an existential threat is the loss of confidence by the contributing nations. and general williamson took our report, which was quite negative, identified many, many problems, but the fact that the united states has a system of an independent i.g. outside the chain of command reporting only...

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security of europe is dependentuponnato, notupon doe eu and that itisnatowhichis protecting us from further incursion by president putin ani that we do nato no good by f suggesting that somehow the eu has some competence in this area. >> well, i have huge respect for my right old friend he served e brilliantly in the last gove government helping to strengthen our defenses, and i have to say. perhaps 10, 15 years ago i might have said the same, when it's defense it's really about nato and our partnership with america and not the eu. arou but i think when we consider i defense and security in the s bt realm today, you know, the way that we fight terrorism, yes, it depends on those other relationships, but it also depends on what we do through cd the eu and i see that every day through thee exchange of t information. just take, for example, the agreement we reached also at ced this council to make sure that e where's a strong nato mission to try and help the situation between greece and turkey.he now, it's a nato mission backing up his point, but where was somw of the conversat

security of europe is dependent upon nato, not upon doe eu and that it is nato which is protecting us from further incursion by president putin ani that we do nato no good by f suggesting that somehow the eu has some competence in this area. >> well, i have huge respect for my right old friend he served e brilliantly in the last gove government helping to strengthen our defenses, and i have to say. perhaps 10, 15 years ago i might have said the same, when it's defense it's really about...

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, train and assist the iraqis in combat operations. to assureournatoalliesand support the president's european reshurns initiative, u.s. army europe has a large role in supporting european command operations, conducting regional engagement assurance missions and prepositioning equipment set to further deter russian aggression on the european continent. in the pacific the u.s. army continues to engage asia, conducting its third year of pacific pathways. the key regional engagement operations throughout the pacific theater, enhancing the envaluable partnership with our allies in the region. i would assert that what is most important to observe is that all of these operations were very much different or nonexistent one or two years ago and required a greater level of u.s. army ground force involvement. as you can see from the map before you, a large portion of america's army continues to serve around the world in virtually every corner of the globe and in every combatant commander of area of operation. the current trend is that these numbers are on the rise to support the com

, train and assist the iraqis in combat operations. to assure our nato allies and support the president's european reshurns initiative, u.s. army europe has a large role in supporting european command operations, conducting regional engagement assurance missions and prepositioning equipment set to further deter russian aggression on the european continent. in the pacific the u.s. army continues to engage asia, conducting its third year of pacific pathways. the key regional engagement operations...

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of relevant u.s.andnatocommandpositions. your experience is not only impressive and is extremely useful as you assume the responsibility. i recently traveled to afghanistan and it is evident that the past year has been a transition for the country. the coalition to the afghan national security forces are ansf hasn't been without its challenges as evidenced by the temporary seizure of kunduz city and afghanistan. further complicating the security situation has been the emergence of the islamic state in the khorasan. they had a welcome development and have also added toed dynamic security situation by displacingel ems of al qaeda and the pakistan, taliban and other bad actors into afghanistan. and the greatest security challenges with all these forces at play that confront the nsff in the coming year. -- excuse me, the ansf have had the sole responsibility of securing their country for more than a year and fortunately have remained cohesive and responsive throughout. the ansf have continued to report their willingness to take areas contested by the taliban while increasing their ov

of relevant u.s. and nato command positions. your experience is not only impressive and is extremely useful as you assume the responsibility. i recently traveled to afghanistan and it is evident that the past year has been a transition for the country. the coalition to the afghan national security forces are ansf hasn't been without its challenges as evidenced by the temporary seizure of kunduz city and afghanistan. further complicating the security situation has been the emergence of the...

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? >> the first thing we've done was agree to work with them onthenatodeploymentfor the flow of refugees and we are talking with them now about what further extensions may or may not be needed. as i said earlier we have plussed up our budget to all of the frontline states with respect to this. in addition to that we pledged $925 million i talked about in london for the refugees. one of the things that has motivated our policy is this notion we're the world's largest donor, $5.1 billion and this thing can keep on going and we can keep writing a check but we don't want to. what we would rather do is push forward on the other front to see if we can't get an end by the cessation of hostilities and legitimate diplomatic process. and, you know, while i've said again and again here i'm not going to vouch for the fact that this works, we have to put it to the test. we have no alternative but to test this. with all the cynicism and all the doubts that each of us will carry to the table, we have to test it. and then we'll know if people aren't serious that gives you a whole different set

? >> the first thing we've done was agree to work with them on the nato deployment for the flow of refugees and we are talking with them now about what further extensions may or may not be needed. as i said earlier we have plussed up our budget to all of the frontline states with respect to this. in addition to that we pledged $925 million i talked about in london for the refugees. one of the things that has motivated our policy is this notion we're the world's largest donor, $5.1 billion...

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years deployed in country and having held a number of relevant u.s.andnatocommandpositions. your experience is not only impressive but is extremely useful as you assume this new responsibility. i recently traveled to afghanistan and it is evident that the past year has been one of significant political and security transition for the country. the transfer of security responsibilities from the coalition to the afghan national security forces or ansf hasn't been without its challenges as evidence by the temporary seizure of kundu city and other areas by the taliban, further complicating the security situation has been the emergence of the so-called islamic state in the corazon province or iskp. operations by the pakistani military on their side of the border while a welcome development have also added to the security situation by displacing elements of al qaeda, the pakistan taliban and other bad actors into afghanistan. lieutenant general nicholson, i look forward to your assessment and what you see as the greatest security challenges with all these forces in play that confront th

years deployed in country and having held a number of relevant u.s. and nato command positions. your experience is not only impressive but is extremely useful as you assume this new responsibility. i recently traveled to afghanistan and it is evident that the past year has been one of significant political and security transition for the country. the transfer of security responsibilities from the coalition to the afghan national security forces or ansf hasn't been without its challenges as...

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region or maybe some ofournatopartners?>> it would be helpful. i have encouraged, you know, other countries to conduct operations in the south china sea because at the end of the day, south china sea is international waters, in my view. >> we talked about okinawa yesterday. can you give us an update what more we should be looking at doing or helping our allies particularly with regard to japan in terms of the marine redeployment there? >> so we have this relationship with japan in okinawa. we have an obligation to defend japan and they have an obligation to provide us a place from which to defend them. and okinawa is one of those critical places where we must be in order to meet our treaty obligations to defend japan. a few years ago, through a lot of increasing tensions over the years, japan asked us to move our forces out of futenma to some place else. our response to that is sure, you build a new place and we'll move our forces there. that's a simplistic view but that's how we agreed to move from futenma to the futenma replacement facility, camp schwab. in that process we agree

region or maybe some of our nato partners? >> it would be helpful. i have encouraged, you know, other countries to conduct operations in the south china sea because at the end of the day, south china sea is international waters, in my view. >> we talked about okinawa yesterday. can you give us an update what more we should be looking at doing or helping our allies particularly with regard to japan in terms of the marine redeployment there? >> so we have this relationship with...

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have seen from the russians and what ms. hicksaddressed.natoallieslike sufficient units. it could be used for potential contingencies in the middle east. and fourth, deploying from the united states takes time that we may not have. the commission, again, believes that forward stationing a bct team in europe would require minimal additional staffing. the details on all these issues can be found in the army of the future and in the apache transfer chapter. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you. over the past two days the commission's had the opportunity to brief senior leaders at did department of defense, the national security council, uniformed and civilian leaders at did department of the army, chief of the national guard bureau and this morning with congressional leaders and their staffs. going forward from this point, i suspect we'll see some of you tomorrow at the defense writers group and a think tank session kindly hosted by csis tomorrow, as well. the following week there are commissioners will travel to the united states army sergeants major academy. you might guess who mi

have seen from the russians and what ms. hicks addressed. nato allies like sufficient units. it could be used for potential contingencies in the middle east. and fourth, deploying from the united states takes time that we may not have. the commission, again, believes that forward stationing a bct team in europe would require minimal additional staffing. the details on all these issues can be found in the army of the future and in the apache transfer chapter. thank you, mr. chairman. >>...

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will be intercepted, whether it is russian military activities on the borderofnato, orthe movement of terrorist groups across the world, or of any of the other number of hard targets that we expect our intelligence community to penetrate and understand, we will not always know how our adversaries make decisions, let alone understand their implications. this is doubly true if we further constrain our nation's intelligence professionals through policy decisions that limit their effectiveness. our intelligence capacity and capability are just like anything else, constrained by the limitations of time, space, technology, resources, and policy. as one senior u.s. official acknowledged about limited understanding of isil two years ago "a lot of the intelligence collection that we were receiving diminished significantly following the u.s. withdrawal in iraq in 2011, when we lost some of the boots on the ground in view of what was going on. "put simply if our national leaders decide not to be present in place wes should not be surprised later when we lack sufficient intelligence about the

will be intercepted, whether it is russian military activities on the border of nato, or the movement of terrorist groups across the world, or of any of the other number of hard targets that we expect our intelligence community to penetrate and understand, we will not always know how our adversaries make decisions, let alone understand their implications. this is doubly true if we further constrain our nation's intelligence professionals through policy decisions that limit their effectiveness....

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underliningournatocommitmentto those countries, as their biggest concern is future military adventures by putin's russia? and to underline our role as one, if not the leading military contributor through nato to the european alliance, will be a very good offer to make by deploying more troops, perhaps, in order to get what is a difficult, difficult concession for our partners to make in those countries? >> prime minister. >> to my right honorable friend, he has huge experience of european negotiations, both treaty negotiations and also ongoing negotiations in the council of ministers. so i'm grateful for what he says. he's absolutely right, these are difficult issues. my argument is that while we have the free movement of people, that many british people take advantage of, we don't have harmonized welfare and benefit systems, nor should we. and the second point, when countries in europe have problems that they believe affect their key national interests, we've got to be flexible enough to deal with them. and i think that's what this agreement is showing. the advantage, of co

underlining our nato commitment to those countries, as their biggest concern is future military adventures by putin's russia? and to underline our role as one, if not the leading military contributor through nato to the european alliance, will be a very good offer to make by deploying more troops, perhaps, in order to get what is a difficult, difficult concession for our partners to make in those countries? >> prime minister. >> to my right honorable friend, he has huge experience...

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saying that asthenatobecomesmore aggressive and we become more aggressive, they're going to become more aggressive. does it look to you like that's going on right now? and what will be the end game of that? >> i think -- to answer your last question on what the end game is, i don't know. but i will say that the russians -- i might ask general stewart to comment on this, but i think the russians are fundamentally paranoid about nato. they're greatly concerned about being contained and, of course, very, very concerned about missile defense, which would serve to neuter what is the essence of their claim to great power status which is their nuclear arsenal. so, a lot of these aggressive things that the russians are doing for a number of reasons, great power status, to create the image of being co-equal with the united states, et cetera, i think could possibly go on and we could be another cold war-like spiral here. >> cold war. i was thinking of that at the time. isn't that what we went through for such a long period of time where you had russia or ussr making the statements and prepar

saying that as the nato becomes more aggressive and we become more aggressive, they're going to become more aggressive. does it look to you like that's going on right now? and what will be the end game of that? >> i think -- to answer your last question on what the end game is, i don't know. but i will say that the russians -- i might ask general stewart to comment on this, but i think the russians are fundamentally paranoid about nato. they're greatly concerned about being contained...